Earth has been filled with plastic and waste since they were invented. Today’s world overuses plastic to the worst extent. It is hard to go anywhere and not see plastic. Even though recycling is an efficient way to limit waste, I don’t think many people recycle nor knows the right way to do so. I’ve met a few people who have never recycled until meeting me. If there was never an impact like that on someone’s life, most thing would still be going straight into the trash and not even given the opportunity for recycling. I also believe that most people stay away from recycled thing because they feel as if its ‘dirty.’ There are many people who need to be educated on all of these items and its purpose, or origin. This would help reduce waste. I believe that there are more efficient ways to send and store items. Biodegradable packaging can be made from various plants. Biodegradable storage containers/ packaging come in handy and may be the easiest way to get around people that are not as educated on the matter at hand. This not only helps limit waste; it also helps to reduce the amount of waste that could end up living a lifetime in our oceans. Even though, one person’s change makes a difference, not much of a difference will be made until every person contributes. Plastic packaging is used in almost all grocery stores and markets. There is no way around reducing a person’s plastic use without making food wrappers non plastic. The change must start with companies, then making its way down to workers and buyers. After a while, households will be limited on the use of plastic. The amount of plastic waste or amount found in the oceans will then be reduced to little or NONE! The use of biodegradable packaging can completely wipe out amount of waste found all throughout Earth. Although biodegradables bring many benefits, it can also come with a few obstacles. If there was an increase in biodegradable packaging, this results in a decrease of plant matter. This may cause more problems on Earth. A decrease in plant matter can not only be detrimental to humans, this can also be detrimental to almost all animals on Earth. Every person or animal relies on plants, in one way or another. This can create the same risk that plastic waste is creating now. Too much consumption of plants can lower our oxygen levels, decrease numbers of living animals, and decrease the number of living humans. In order to lower this risk, we will have to replenish all plants we use up. By doing this, a balance will be kept. If we replenish more than what we use, this will bring even more benefits out of the situation as a whole. The Earth must be taken care of, for Earth to take care of us! We must treat Earth with the most care because it is the only one, we have. If the Earth dies, we must go as well…
Essay by: Tamia Bonner
Arizona State University